Fore-mash apparatus



(No Model.)

0. MEINSHAU-SBN. PURE MASH APPARATUS.

PatentedJuly 14, 1896.

AAA? AWM/@ A UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE.

OTTO MEINSHAUSEN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

FORE-MASH APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 563,978, dated July 14, 1896. Application filed June 7, 1895. Serial No. 551,992. (No model.)

T0 all whom it may concern: l

Be it known that I, OTTO MEINSHAUSEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Ohicago, inthe county of Oook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Fore-Mash Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in apparatus for use in breweries and located usually between acharge-measuring apparatus and mash-tub, to mix with the ground or crushed malt and graina desired quantity of water of proper temperature as it descends from the measuring apparatus to the mashtub for conversion into wort. Although mashtubs are generally provided with stirrers, it is deemed desirable to have the charge enter it in aliquid state free from lumps and evenly mixed to the proper consistency throughout. It is usual, therefore, to cause the mass to descend from the charge-measuring apparatus to the mash-tub through a chute or foremash apparatus, into which water enters at the same time to mix with the mass, whereby the latter will enter the mash-tub in an adequately-diluted condition.

My object is to provide fore-mash apparatus of a construction which will render it better adapted to its purpose of diluting the descending mass and disintegrating the lumps of grain and malt than the apparatus hitherto employed.

In the drawings, Figure l is a broken vertical central section ol my improved device, and Figs. 2 and 3 plan views of details of construction.

Ais a cylindrical shell or chamber interposed between an upper section X and a lower section X of a chute. In the chute above the chamber A a valve t may be provided, as shown. Extending around the inner side of the chamber at the top and about the middle thereof are annular spray-tubes B B', which connect with a common water-supply pipe B2. Mounted centrally in the chamber just below the spray-tube B is a distributing-disintegrator O of conical form, its lower or base portion being of a diameter somewhat less than the inner surface of the chamber-wall and concentric therewith to produce the annular passage s. The disintegrator may be secured to the shell by means of arms or brackets s',

as shown, or in any other suitable manner, and is provided on its outer surface with downward-extending ribs r.

Below the disintegrator C is an annular dished plate or concentrating-disintegrator D, secured at its upper or outer edge to the wall of the shell, and extending at its inner edge portion downward into the ring formed by the spray-tube B. The disintegrator D is provided on its upper surface with spirallydisposed ribs q. Mounted in the chamber below the spray-tube B' is a distributing-disintegrator 'E of substantially the same size and construction as the disintegrator C, proy vided with radially -disposed ribs r and mounted in the same way to afford an annular passage s between it and the shell.

In practice the part X of the chute, or a part above that shown, may be of flexible material and fastened to the discharge end of a weighing bin or hopper provided with a valve like the valve t, in which a charge of ground or crushed malt and grain, sufficient for one or more brews, may be weighed. After the charge has been determined it may be allowed to descend in the chute to the valve t.

In operation water in proper quantity. and at the proper temperature is let into the pipe B2 and the valve t is opened. The outletopenings in the rings or spray-tubes BB are slightly below the inner peripheries of the rings to'ldischarge the water in practically continuous annular sheets or streams against the conical surface of the disintegrators O E.

As the mass descends upon the cone O it is broken up and the particles separated from each otherby the impact, the point of the cone and its ribs, and the force of the stream of water. As the saturated mass falls through the passage s the impact against the concentrating-disintegrator D and friction against its ribs Q tends further to break up any lumps that may exist. The disintegrating operation is repeated as the mass falls upon the lower cone E, and the water from the spraytube B', mixing intimately with the mass, dilutes it to the proper consistency. As a result the mass descends through the passage s to the lower portion X of the chute free from all lumps and in the desired diluted state'. By providing one or more of the disintegrators, and especially the concentrator IOO I), with spirally-disposed ribs a Whirl is given to the descending Inass which is peculiarlT eflective in reducing anyluinps of grain and n1alt,and in furthering the diluting operation.

lVhile I prefer to construct the apparatus throughout substantially as shown and described, it may be modified in the matter of details of construction Without departing from the spirit of my invention as defined by the clailn.

lVhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-` In a fore-mash apparatus, the combination of a chamber forming a passage through which the lnass to be disintegrated and diluted descends by gravity to the mash-tub, upper and lower conical distributing-disintegrators 

